“Hey Sarah, take a look at what Mellissa there’s up to!”

“What the hell?!”

I nodded and skated over to the next set.

“Yo Jake, Brittney looks pretty comfortable over there. Do you maybe want to let her know how you’re feeling?”

“Oh come on!”

[Skill Level Up! Detect Cheating 17 -> 18]

That was how my evening was going. At a roller rink and catching cheaters was the best way to level up [Detect Cheating] I’d found so far, and I was wondering why I didn’t start doing this before? Well, besides the fact that the Skill’s passive form would’ve left me a gibbering mess on the ground if I hadn’t found the secret mental dial to lessen its effects.

But now that I had, I was able to use it while still functioning! The passive ability would point me towards any guilty parties by letting me feel their negative emotions, and then the active ability would give me their and their victim’s names. Then it was a matter of scanning enough people that I would eventually run into the victims.

Of course, it still took a bit of time to get all of the names I needed, and there were still plenty of people whose partners weren’t here with them. But I was writing all of the names down, and my 19 Intelligence helped me keep track of who was where.

After a quick break and another scanning session, I made my way to the next few people to tattle on.

“Cut the make out session asshole, your girlfriend’s getting railed by another guy! Do you want to do something about it?”

“Aww man! That’s my girl!”

With a grimace, I watched the latest man run off to protect what he believed to be his. “What a fucking hypocrite,” I thought to myself. “I could feel his reaction to my words from this Skill. It fucking hurt, didn’t it? That’s what ‘your girl’ is going to be feeling too once she finds out about you next.”

[Skill Level Up! Detect Cheating 18 -> 19]

[Skill Level Up! Revenge 7 -> 8]

Hmm, still no new perks. Whatever, the night was still young and I still had another half an hour until the dead drop. I’d just keep grinding until I got something, which judging by how often I’ve been getting, wasn’t going to be long. Besides, it was fun making these people squirm!

I slowly made my way to a corner to settle down while I ran another round of pings. The lights began to darken and the disco ball turned the shade of lightened blood. It was apparently the “couple’s dance.” I didn’t care, I simply stood hunched over my notepad, scribbling down the names and victims of the next batch of cheaters. It was surprising how many of these idiots brought their partners with them here while using the roller rink as a rendezvous. But what else could be expected from them.

“Hey buddy, you the one telling everyone about us?” came an angry voice from in front of me.

I looked up to see a small group of men, all the self-righteous types, looking down on me with their arms crossed.

“Telling what about you?” I spat back.

“That we’re cheating on our partners! Do you have some kind of a problem?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I slowly replied, straightening out my back to stare the apparent ring leader in the eye. “You planning to do something about it, limp-dicks?” I relished in how they squirmed at the mild insult.

I saw the sucker punch coming from a mile away. Even with roller skates on, I ducked out of the way and delivered a focused blow to the man’s jaw. 16 Strength made it hit hard, pushing the ringleader back and into the arms of another man behind him. Of course, that wasn’t enough to stop things. Why would a single punch ever be?

Another pair of skaters charged at me next, and I simply slid back a step until my back was touching the wall. Without any control of their bodies at those speeds, they collided with each other. And then the next challenger stepped forward, and became the next victim. And the one after that.

The entire group wisened up and took me on all at once. 16 Strength let me throw them to the floor with my blows, 19 Constitution let me take the occasional punch to the face or kick to the gut with barely a flinch, and 16 Endurance let me keep going when the others had tired. As my fists flew, I could feel something else beyond my own rage guiding them. My hatred, anger, desire to make these people suffer.

These bastards wanted to pick a fight with me?! I’d show them what happened! I’d make sure they learned never to do something so stupid ever again! Maybe they’d learn never to cheat on their partners again too? But I was being too optimistic. They were scum! All that lust, that jealousy. I could feel it, it was inside of me! I loathed it, I loathed them! I loathed…

[Skill Level Up! Revenge 8 -> 9]

“Hey, hey! Knock it off! What the hell is going on?” shouted a short, balding man in a tucked in polo shirt as he made his way towards the fight.

“This asshole’s been ruining everyone’s night by telling everyone we’re cheaters!” shouted the ringleader, taking a large step away from me.

“I just told their partners they were being cheated on,” I replied. “And I was just minding my own business here when all of them picked a fight with me! I’m just defending myself!”

“I don’t care, get out!” shouted the man. I could see his nametag said “manager.”

“Yeah, get the hell out of here,” I barked at the men who’d attacked me. “Nobody wants you!”

“No, I mean you,” said the manager, pointing towards me. “Take those skates off and get out of my rink.”

“What?! They threw the first punch! I was just defending myself!”

“I don’t care, you’re ruining people’s nights, and I can’t have that in my place of business. So get your snitching ass out of here!”

I paused and looked at the man. Pathetic, slimy, he was as bad as the rest of them. I raised my first and he flinched, fear ever present in his eyes. I looked at them like a predator, and all I could say was that he was pitiful. It wasn’t worth the trouble.

“Yeah, I’m leaving,” I grumbled, taking off my skates and shuffling my way out of the roller rink.

Outside, I took a deep breath of cold, smoggy air. The sharp chill did well to freeze the rage simmering just under my skin. It wasn’t gone, but it was mellowed. Though to be honest, it wouldn’t take much to bring it back out.

I idly looked down to the notepad I was carrying, the one that still listed the names and victims of all of the people I wasn’t able to directly confront because they had the sense of leaving their partners at home.

But in front of me was a payphone, and I had plenty of spare change.

The smoldering flame just received some new kindling.

Opening up the phone book, I found the name of the first victim I’d jotted down, and it didn’t take long for them to pick up.

“…yes? Hello?” asked a meek sounding woman through the receiver.

“Yeah, Jennifer Gardley?” I asked back. Apparently [Detect Cheating] didn’t work through the phone, judging by the lack of an info menu in front of me. I didn’t want to take any risk and tell the wrong person in case the System didn’t count it towards a level up.

“Yes, that’s me. Who is this?” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“That doesn’t matter. Your boyfriend’s cheating on you with some skank here at the roller rink.”

“…”

“Hey, you there? You should tell him to pound sand or something. Total stuck up prick.” I couldn’t tell what the woman was thinking. For the first time that night, I couldn’t feel anything other than my own thoughts.

“Hu-” came a squeak. And then a sniffle. “Aauu!” And finally a sob. With many more that followed.

I didn’t need [Detect Cheating]’s passive to tell me how she felt. As I stood there in the dark, illuminated only by a streetlight, the world around me felt so small. I half expected the Skill to still activate and fill me with feelings of desolation and hatred. But nothing came. I was alone in my thoughts.

And the only sensation that filled me was one of guilt.

[Skill Level Up! Revenge 9 -> 10]

[Revenge Perk Obtained! Vengeful Force]

And I finally understood why. I was returning to my old self.

My mind fazed out of reality and threw itself back to a time long gone, a time I buried deep down in my psyche.

I saw a girl, a high school Junior, 17 years old and in her third year. Just like I was at the time. My girlfriend. I saw her making out with another guy, a man I called my best friend. That day I lost two people dear to me. They weren’t the last.

“It’s just high school, you’ll get over it. Now just focusing on studying,” said my dad.

“It’s your fault for taking a schoolyard romance so seriously. Grow up,” said my mom.

“It’s normal to grow out of these kinds of relationships. Don’t worry, you got into a great school, your life is only about to begin!” exclaimed my school’s guidance counselor.

Why isn’t anyone taking me seriously? Even one, just one person! I don’t know what kind of miserable or carefree lives they live that they think what happened to me is normal, but losing the two closest people to me in one fell swoop… there’s a hole inside me nobody wants to notice. Maybe I’ll make them see it!

“What, suspended?! For picking a fight?” shouted my dad. “You’d better count yourself lucky this doesn’t end up on any kind of record, otherwise your college might kick you out!”

“Don’t you think you’re a little too young to be a wine mom?” laughed my mom. “Seriously sweetie, leave the booze to grown ups with real problems!”

I only acted out as some desperate call for help, but that was because my real calls were ignored. And that desperation and trauma only followed me as I started on my downward spiral, eventually leading me to rock bottom.

From there, I found the light and after taking only two steps towards it, I found myself in this world. A world that existed solely as a constant reminder of my worst nightmare made manifest.

…

“Oh why?! Why did he do this to me?” came the voice of Jennifer from the phone, snapping me back to the present.

“Jennifer?” I spoke softly into the receiver.

“We were even planning to get married in Otroka! Did I do something wrong? Why is this happening?!”

“Jennifer,” I said more sternly, but without any harshness in my voice. “This is not your fault. You got unlucky and ended up with someone who doesn’t love you the same way you loved him.”

“Huh?” Her sobbing began to slow, now replaced with only a few sniffles.

“I can tell from your reaction alone that you are a wonderful and caring person, who deserves someone who’ll truly love you with all their heart. Apparently, the man you were dating isn’t him. You’re allowed to feel horrible about this, anyone does when their long-time partner betrays their trust like that.”

“Yeah, but… he was going to propose to me!”

“I’m sorry, Jennifer. I really am, I’ve been through the same. But I can tell you that it gets better. It’ll hurt today, and tomorrow. It might hurt a week from now. But soon, the pain will fade and you can move on, stronger than ever. Use that strength to find someone who won’t betray you like this.”

“I don’t know if I can…”

“You’re already strong, Jennifer. It takes strength to care. I know you can pull through.” Come on System, show me what 22 goddamn Charisma could do!

“Y-you’re right. I am strong, I can find someone better! Thank you.” She hung up.

“…you’re welcome.”

[Level up! (11)]

[Str: +2 | Con: +1 | End: +1 | Cha: +1 | Atr: +0 | Dex: +1 | Int: +1]

[Str: 18 | Con: 20 | End: 17 | Cha: 23 | Atr: 13 | Dex: 15 | Int: 20]

[Skill Level Up! Detect Cheating 19 -> 20]

[Detect Cheating Perk Obtained! Detailed Information]

And no level up for [Revenge].